Thrilling Story of the WONDERFUL 

CAPITOL BUILDING 



AND ITS 



MARVELOUS DECORATIONS 




BY 



SMITH D. FRY 



COPYRIGHT, 1911 
By SMITH D. FRY 



SECOND EDITION 
PRICE 25 CTS. 



^ 




(gCl.A32768? 






DEDICATION 




^O JAMES SCHOOLCRAFT SHERMAN, 
Vice-President of the United States; to 
Champ Clark, Speaker of the House 
of Representatives ; to Elhott Woods, 
Superintendent of the Capitol; to Henry 
Casson, Sergeant-at-arms of the House of Represen- 
tatives; and to Daniel Moore Ransdell, Sergeant-at- 
arms of the United States Senate, this work is heartily 
dedicated, because their practical friendship made 
possible the preparation and dissemination of this Story 
of the Capitol. 

The Author. 




GODDESS OF FREEDOM. 



INTRODUCTORY 




^HIS little book is not a guide book. 
Xo matter wliere 3-011 travel, you will 
always need a livuig guide. So-called 
guide books are misleading misno- 
mers. 

After you have seen the Capitol, with a guide, you 
will want to carry home with you a brief but com- 
prehensive s'ory of the beauties and the wonders 
which you have seen. You will want this story to show 
to your friends, and also to refresh your memory con- 
cerning the most wonderful public building in the whole 
big world. 

All of the experience of a lifetime of journalism; 
all of the experience acquired in "boiling down" long 
stories ; all of the experience accjuired in ruthlessly 
cutting down "stuff" to be wired ; all of these have 
been used in telling the complete story of the Capitol 
in as brief a space as possible. 
It is all here, in these - few pages. 




ON THE EAST FRONT 

■^TAXDIXG on the portico of the East Front 

Sof the Capitol, we have before us the 
Capitol Plaza, on the other side of which 
stands the Library of Congress with its 
-Ji gold-covered dome. Previous to the 
erection of that Library, the little Hindu 
Temple of Taj-]\Lahal was admitted to be the most 
beautiful building in the world; but the Library across 
the Plaza now takes the palm, for it is unquestionably 
the most beautiful building in the world. 

This Capitol building, the beauties and magnificence 
of which we are about to see, stands upon the brow 
qf a hill, has a parkage of sixty acres, and is the most 
imposing public building on earth. 

You have read in some newspapers that the Presi- 
dent-elect is inaugurated on the East Front of the 
Capitol ; but that is not true. The news writers who 
are exact will tell 3'ou that there is a platform built, 
beginning on the East Front top step, extending out 
two hundred feet into the Plaza, sloping down to 
within ten feet of the ground; and away out there, 
three hundred feet east of this East Front, the Presi- 
dent-elect goes and meets the Chief Justice of the 
Supreme Court of the United States, from him re- 
ceives the oath of office, and then he delivers his 
inaugural address. 

On the Fourth of March there are no leaves on the 
trees, and upward of fifty thousand people, thronging 




ROGERS BRONZE DOORS. 



9 

the Plaza, although they cannot hear the inaugural 
address, can see their President inaugurated and can 
tell it when they return home. If he were inaugurated 
here on the East Front, comparatively few" people could 
see him, and almost none could hear his address. 



THE MARBLE ANNEXES 

Over the north side of the Plaza you see a large 
marble building, and there is another one on the south 
side. Each one of these buildings covers an entire 
block of ground, and each building cost $3,500,000, 
a total of $7,000,000. 

Once there was a man in high position who talked 
about "race suicide" in our country. He might have 
said less if he had known that the growth in popu- 
lation of our Republic made those immense marble 
buildings necessary, because the increased volume of 
business from our constantly increasing population 
made the immense Capitol too small for the national 
workshop. There was not. room enough in the great 
Capitol for the Senators and Representatives to handle 
the tons of mail wdiich came to them. 

These marble buildings are the Senate Annex on the 
north and the House Annex on the south side of the 
Plaza. Visually they are separate from the Capitol, 
but actually they are parts of the original building, with 
which they are connected by tunnels, or subways, as 
wide as the East Front Portico. These tunnels are used 
as the corridors are used. In the Senate tunnel there 
are little automobiles for the statesmen of the Senate. 
This is because there are more elderly statesmen in the 
Senate than in the House of Representatives. 



II 
THE ROGERS BRONZE DOORS 

Standing on the Portico of the East Front, turning 
to the Capitol entrance, we come to the Rogers Bronze 
Doors, the best and largest bronze doors on any public 
building in the world. Of course, we all know that 
the Baptistry Doors at Florence, Italy, are larger than 
the Rogers Doors; but they are not on a public build- 
ing. That is a sacred edifice. 

On the left of the great door case you see the 
inscription: "Designed and modeled by Randolph 
Rogers, 1858." 

They are the product of an American brain. Rogers 
was a young American art student in Rome when he 
designed and modeled the doors. The work of the 
artist is perfect. Fortunately, the casting also is perfect, 
and was done in the best bronze foundry in the world, 
in i860, that of Fritz Von Miller, in Munich, Bavaria. 
They were placed in their present position in 1865, at 
a cost of $28,500, and they weigh approximately ten 
tons. Being the largest and the most perfect and the 
best, the Rogers Doors comport well with the magnifi- 
cent Capitol building. 

On the four corners of the door casings are depicted 
the four continents. The crowned head, of course, 
represents Europe. Above it is a good type of Asia. 
On the opposite side is a type of Africa, and beneath 
it is a strong t3'pe of America. Above the transom is 
a bust of Columbus. 

On the sides of the doors are sixteen statuettes of 
participants in the development of the New World. In 
the centers of the doors are the heads of six of the 
celebrated historians of that period. 



13 

On the panels are scenes from the Hfe of Columbus. 
The lower panel on the left or south door represents 
Columbus before the council of Salamanca soliciting 
aid, which was denied him. The panel above shows 
Cohmibus before the convent La Ribida, where he 
received a letter of commendation from Father Perez, 
to Queen Isabella, whose father confessor he had been. 
The panel above shows Columbus before the Queen and 
King consort, from whom he received the appropria- 
tion with which he is seen, on the top panel, departing 
on his first vo.vage. 

On the entablature is a splendid art work of the 
Landing of Columbus. The top panel of the right side 
or north door is a picture of Columbus departing 
from America bearing with him natives to prove his 
discovery. The panel below represents his royal re- 
ception at Barcelona. The next panel depicts his re- 
call and arrest on false charges. The lower panel 
depicts the death of Columbus in prison at Valladolid, 
receiving the last rites of his church. 

The marvelous attention to detail on every inch 
and pin point of these doors, and their perfect cast- 
ing, gives them the front rank among all bronze art- 
work doors on public buildings. 

THE ROTUNDA 

Passing through the Rogers Doors, we enter the 
Capitol Rotunda, and stand beneath the grandest dome 
in the world. It is one hundred feet in diameter and 
one hundred and eighty feet from floor to canopy. 
The Rotunda is aptly termed "Uncle Sam's big recep- 
tion room," for here all of the guests of the Republic 
■come. 



15 

Let us turn to the left and approach the large paint- 
ing of "The Baptism of Pocahontas." After admiring 
this excellent work of modern art, let us turn about 
and look at the other large paintings. Opposite to us, 
on the right, is "The Embarkation of the Pilgrims ;" 
next is "The Landing of Columbus," and next "The 
Discovery of the ]\Iississippi River." These four paint- 
ings cost $12,000 each. They are worth the money 
which they cost, and are also worthy of the niches 
they till in the great Rotunda.* 

But these four paintings are out of the imaginations 
of the artists, and they are secondary to the paintings 
on the west side of the Rotunda, the Trumbull paint- 
ings, which cost only $8,000 each. The Trumbull 
paintings represent actual events, just as they did 
occur, and they are not out of the imagination of the 
artists. 

Colonel John Trumbull was present and sketched 
"The Declaration of Independence," right on the spot 
in Independence Hall, on July 4, 1776. This painting 
had the approval of Thomas Jefiferson and all of the 
surviving members of the Continental Congress. These 
are good likenesses of them, and this great painting is 
beyond price. 

Trumbull's painting of "The Surrender of General 
Burgoyne, at Saratoga," is from a sketch made on the 
battlefield, and it also is historically correct and had 
the approval of many surviving officers of the Ameri- 
can Army. 

"The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis, at Yorktown," 
is also one of Trumbull's works historically exact. It 
represents General Lincoln, in the center, conducting^ 
the defeated British troops between the lines of their 



17 
conquerors, the Americans on the right, and the French 
on the left. Washington sits on his horse beneath the 
American flag, and the Count de Rochambeau on the 
left beneath the French flag. When that picture was 
shown to the ]\Iarquis de Lafayette, without comment, 
in 1824, he exclaimed : "That is what occurred at York- 
town." 

The fourth of the Trumbull paintings represents 
''General Washington Resigning His Commission as 
Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Armies." The 
resignation was made to the Continental Congress, 
sitting in the State House at Annapolis, Maryland, 
December 2^,, 1783. This painting had the approval 
of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, and of many other 
participants in or witnesses of the event. If you 
should visit Annapolis to-day you will find that it ap- 
pears precisly as it does in that painting. The little 
old gallery is still there in which Martha Washington 
stood, with her three daughters by a former marriage. 

These Trumbull paintings, representing as they do 
actual events and preserving for all time the beginning 
of the War of the Revolution in the Declaration of 
Independence, the next great event, the capture of the 
British army of the Xorth at Saratoga, then the cap- 
ture of the British army of the South at Yorktown, 
and the close of the war, when Washington finally with- 
drew from military service as commander of the Revo- 
lutionary armies, are the most valuable paintings in 
the possession of the Government, and are beyond com- 
putation as to value. Xo amount of money or treasure 
could purchase them. 



19 
THE WEST FRONT 

Standing on the portico of the West Front of the 
Capitol, you see the best embowered city in the world. 
To the right is the glass-roofed Pension Office. That 
is a large rectangle, enclosing the largest hall in north- 
west Washington. Every four years all of the desks 
and papers in that immense hall are taken out and 
stored away, so that on the night of March Fourth, 
on Inauguration Day, that Pension Office Hall may be 
used for the Inaugural Ball. 

The churchy with two minarets for steeples, is the 
First Presbyterian Church, the pastor of which. Rev. 
Dr. Sunderland, went to the White House one even- 
ing and married Grover Cleveland, aged 51, to Miss 
Frances Folsom, aged 2^ ; and it is said that they lived 
happily ever afterwards. 

The tall steeple is over the Metropolitan Methodist 
Episcopal Church, where President Grant worshiped 
eight years and President McKinley worshiped for more 
than four years. 

Before us is Pennsylvania Avenue, the main thorough- 
fare of the National Capitol City. That granite build- 
ing with tower and clock is the Postoffice Department.; 
The marble building, with the dome, is the New Art 
Museum. That tall shaft, 555 feet high, is the Wash- 
ington Monument. The brown standstone building with 
tower and flag is over the celebrated Smithsonian Insti- 
tution. That tall chimney to the left is over the Bureau 
of Engraving and Printing, where all of pur paper 
money is made. To the left of that tall chimney^ far 
over on the Virginia hillside, is a colonial mansion, 
with a flag waving over it. That mansion was former- 
ly the home of Colonel Robert E. Lee, of the United 



21 

States Army. He gave up his rank, and his splendid 
home overlooking this city, to go into the Confederacy, 
and become the military chieftain of that cause. 

About one mile to the left of Arlington you see three 
tall skeleton towers. Those towers constitute the key 
of the wireless telegraph system of the Xavy Depart- 
ment. Similar towers have been erected all along the 
Atlantic coast, from Panama to Labrador. Great 
Britain has erected similar towers on the west coast of 
Ireland and at Gibraltar. Portugal and France have 
cooperated. That wireless system covers the Atlantic 
ocean. There can be no ocean disaster without every 
one afloat and ashore knowing of the fact. 

Moreover, that system extends west to San Fran- 
cisco; to the Hawaiian Islands, the Island of Guam, 
and the Philippines, thus going all around the world. 
With a key and operator in the White House, the 
President is in instant communication with Panama 
and the Philippines, through the air. And yet there 
are some good folks wdio say that they cannot believe 
in miracles. 

There is Pennsylvania Avenue, the finest parade 
ground to be found in any capital city on earth, a mile 
and a quarter in length, and one hundred and six feet 
wide from curb to curb. There all of the inaugural 
parades are displayed before the eyes of the civilized 
world, through the eyes of the ambassadors and min- 
isters of the nations of the world. 

The inaugural parades are expensive, and should 
be more expensive and elaborate every four years. 
They make for the peace of the world. There the 
ambassadors and ministers see our Army and Navy. 
They see the cavalry, the infantry and artillery ; an 



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23 

Army disciplined, drilled, and equipped for war. 
They see our cadets from West Point and Annapolis, 
marching with clock-like precision, the finest bodies 
of drilled, trained, and educated young soldiers and 
sailors on earth. Their alignment and manoeuvers 
are perfect. The diplomats know that these young men 
are to be the commanders of our Armies and Navies 
of the future. They see one State out of forty-eight, 
Pennsylvania, sending a complete army corps equipped 
and ready for the field. They know that all of the 
wealth and population of this Republic are back of our 
military and naval equipment. These ambassadors and 
ministers send word to their home governments that 
they not only saw this demonstration of strength and 
preparedness, but that they heard Uncle Sam quietly 
whispering in their ears, indirectly but firmly : "Keep 
your hands off the Ark of American Libert}', lest ye 
die." 

STATUARY HALL 

Leaving the West Front of the Capitol, we walk 
through the narrow corridor back to and through the 
Rotunda, passing out the south door and into Statuary 
Hall, commonly but erroneously called the Hall of 
Fame. 

This Hall was originally the Hall of the House of 
Representatives, and that body held its sessions here 
between 1807 and 1857, a period of fifty years. The 
growth of the country in population caused increases 
in the number of Representatives every ten years, until 
at last this Hall became too small. The larger Hall 
of the House of Representatives was built, and then 
this was made Statuary Hall, each State having the 
right to send here two statues of its most distinguished 
citizens. 



25 

There are several remarkable echoes in this Hall, 
which the Capitol guides demonstrate to their guests. 
Probabh^ the most remarkable one of them all is the 
one over the marble block on which you see the bronze 
tablet marking the place where former President John 
Quincy Adams sat as a member of the House, and 
where he fell on his desk and died, after answering a 
roll call, February 21, 1848. 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

On the way from Statuary Hall to the House of 
Representatives we come to a great mural painting on 
the west wall above the grand marble staircase. It is 
called "Westward Ho." The painting depicts the strug- 
gles and privations of the pioneers who worked their 
way across the Continent, all the way to the Pacific 
Ocean. On a panel beneath the great picture is a 
glimpse of the ocean, the Golden Gate, the Bay of 
San Francisco. 

This mural painting demonstrates for all time that 
the conquest of this Continent was not a holiday picnic, 
but a tierce battle with hostile Indians and rugged 
resisting nature. 

When the House is not in session, we can go to tlie 
south side of the Hall and enter the Speaker's Lobby. 
In that long corridor we may see the pictures of all the 
Speakers who have presided over the House of Repre- 
sentatives from the beginning of our Government, when 
Frederick Muhlenberg, of Pennsylvania, was elected 
Speaker of the House in the tirst Congress. 

To the south of the Speaker's Lobby is a long cor- 
ridor named the Gold Room, because of its decorations, 
but it is better known in modern times as the Smoking 



27 

Room, because for that purpose it is used almost 
exclusively. 

At either end of this room there is a Bierstadt paint- 
ing. On the east wall is a picture entitled "Dis- 
covery of the Hudson River," and on the west wall 
another large painting called "Landing of the Spaniards 
at AFonterey, California, in 1601." These two paintings 
are in the best style of Bierstadt, elaborate, but careful 
in all matters of detail, and they are marvels of 
history art. 

Near the "Discovery of the Hudson," on the north 
w'all of the Smoking Room, there is a weather map, and 
it is made over every morning by an expert from the 
Weather Bureau, so that Representatives may see at a 
glance what is the condition of the weather at their 
homes. 

Now let us go on the floor of the Hall of the House 
of Representatives. Here is the largest legislative hall 
in the world, the French Chamber of Deputies being 
next to it. On the platform on the south side is the 
Chair of the Speaker, the presiding officer, who is 
elected by the majority party every two years, when 
the new Congresses begin their terms of active service. 

The marble desk before that of the Speaker is the 
Clerk's Desk, and is used by the Clerk of the House, 
his assistants, and the reading clerks. In the center of 
the Clerk's Desk the Chaplain stands while delivering 
his daily invocation. 

The marble desk on the floor is the desk used by 
the stenographers. The mahogany desks at either end 
are used by the press associations. 

The main aisle in the center of the Hall divides the 
two leading parties, the Republicans being on the west 
and the Democrats on the east side of the Hall. 




CANOPY OF DOME. (bRUMIDI.) 



29 

Above the desk of the Speaker is the Press Gallery, 
and it is set apart for the use of special correspond- 
ents of daily newspapers. They give accurate and re- 
liable accounts of what things are done by the Repre- 
sentatives from the States in which their papers cir- 
culate. Their reports are always reliable, although 
public opinion to the contrary has been in vogue. The 
newspaper correspondent who sends to his managing 
editor any statement of alleged fact which is not true 
will promptly be discharged. This statement cannot 
be made too emphatically and earnestly. 

The members of the House of Representatives are 
men known at their homes to be honorable men. Xo 
man can get a nomination in your home district unless 
he is square and upright. Xo man can go to a State 
Legislature and ask to be elected to the United States 
Senate if there is any stain upon his record. The 
writer hereof has known and dealt with statesmen for 
upward of thirty years, and he states most emphatically 
that Senators and Representatives in the American 
Congress are honorable men of whom our people have 
ample reason to be proud. 

X^ow, before leaving the Hall of the House, please 
note the companion portraits on either side of the 
Speakers Chair. They are pictures of George Wash- 
ington, by John Vanderlyn, an American artist, and 
Lafayette, by Ary Scheffer, a French artist. X^ote that 
they are posed alike. They are good likenesses. 
Lafayette personally stated that his portrait was a good 
likeness of himself. 

\\'e will go now to the elevator and view the Hall 
of the House from the gallery. Passing around the 
gallery corridor we come to a large painting of Abra- 
ham Lincoln and the War Cabinet. 




CONSTANTINO BRUMIDI. 



31 

The painting was made in the White House im- 
mediately after the promulgation of the Proclamation 
of Emancipation, and when it was completed it had 
the approval of President Lincoln, and it is the only 
picture of Abraham Lincoln which has the approval of 
Lincoln himself; therefore it is of inestimable value. 

After Frank Carpenter had completed the picture, 
he tried in vain to sell it to Congress ; but he could 
scarcely get even a fair hearing before any committee. 
So he took his canvas back to the home of his father, 
in Xew York, and laid it away. He was almost broken- 
hearted, because he knew that he had a rare and valu- 
able work of art, but nobody seemed to appreciate it. 

Fifteen years elapsed when Mrs. Elizabeth Thomp- 
son, of Hartford, Connecticut, read a fugitive news- 
paper paragraph about the lost Lincoln picture. She 
became interested. She sought and found Frank 
Carpenter. She bought the painting for $25,000. 
Then she brought it to Washington and put it in 
the everlasting black walnut frame where it is now. 
Then she had the frame gilded. Finally, at an ex- 
pense of almost $30,000, Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson pre- 
sented the picture to the Congress, and received the 
official thanks of the legislative body. 

THOMAS JEFFERSON'S STATUE 

Walking down the great marble staircase we come 
to the floor of the House of Representatives, and in 
the corridor at the foot of the stairs we see a mag- 
nificent statue of Thomas Jefferson by Hiram Powers, 
the sculptor of the Greek Slave. Ladies, look at the 
"buttonholes, worked in marble. You cannot improve 
on them in cloth. This is a great work of art. 




BRUM IMS WO 



9^ """-"'-'-""X-IJ,. \ i 




MISS FRANCES E. WILLI ARD. 



35 
LENGTH AND STRENGTH OF THE CAPITOL 

Now we go downstairs to the ground floor and see 
the length and strength of the building. We come to 
the House Restaurant, which is a double restaurant. 
One large room is "For Members Only," as the placard 
reads. On the other side of it is a room labeled 
"Public Restaurant." There you can find accommo- 
dations, at reasonable prices, and many people dine 
there. 

As we pass along the corridor we notice two com- 
pletely equipped barber shops. In one of them you 
can get a Republican and in the other a Democratic 
shave. 

Here we are in the longest corridor in any public 
building in the world. From the north door to the 
south door is a distance of 751 feet. Here we can well 
afford to wait a few minutes until all of the people 
pass out of sight, and there you see that wonderful 
vista, the full length of the Capitol. H you will only 
wait a few minutes, no matter how crowded it may be, 
the crowd always disappears, and the vista is revealed. 

Now, let us traverse the corridor of the Crypt. 
Here in the center of the Capitol, is a marble star, with 
all of the points of the compass. Beneath this star is 
the catafalque, where the tomb of Washington should 
be, and that of Martha, his wife. It was the pui^iose 
of George Washington and it was the written will of 
Martha Washington that they should be buried here, 
so that through openings above the visitors for all times 
might view their last resting place. 

Now, look at the strength of this building. This 
house is like unto that of which the Bible speaks, for it 
"is founded on a rock." So great was the weight that 
was intended to be built up here that building from the 




GENERAI, R. E. LEE. 



2,1 
ground up would have been unwise. These immense pillars 
around us, and the groined arches and walls, hold up 
about nine million pounds of structural steel and iron 
above us in the most wonderful dome on earth. In 
other words, there are four thousand five hundred tons 
of dead weight over our heads, but we are perfectly 
safe because "this house is built upon a rock." Look 
again at the pillars and realize that no Samson can ever 
shake the pillars of this temple, our temple of Liberty. 

CORNSTALKS AND CORN 

Turning aside in the little air shaft, we come to the 
entrance to the Law Library of the Supreme Court. 
This is a small but beautiful corridor. Here is made 
visible a thought of Thomas Jefferson. He believed 
that all of the pillars in our public buildings should be 
made in imitation of corn stalks and corn. When this 
part of the original Capitol was built, Jefferson was in- 
fluential enough to have his idea prevail. This little 
corridor is beautiful, and it is an emblem of Jefferson's 
patriotism and love of country. 

From here we go along the north end of the long 
corridor, and we begin to see the work of Brumidi. 

CONSTANTINO BRUMIDI, PATRIOT 
PAINTER 

You will be surprised when told that in this new 
world, where art is but in its infancy, we have the 
most wonderfully decorated Capitol on earth. But it 
is true. 

Before showing you his work, please listen to the 
storv of his life. Constantino Brumidi was born in 



39 

Italy, educated in Rome, and when only thirteen years 
old was recognized in Rome, the world's center of 
learning, as a budding genius, and at that tender age 
he was admitted to the Academy of Arts in Rome. 
When twenty-seven years of age he was selected by an 
art commission to decorate the Vatican, and worked 
there for three years. So, you see, the man was recog- 
nized in the highest cricle of intelligence as being a 
superior artist. 

When about thirty years of age, Brumidi threw away 
his brush and his great career, declaring that he would 
never paint another stroke until he had found liberty. 
Because of an indignity suffered by a member of his 
family, he became a revolutionary soldier and fought 
in vain the greater part of twenty years for liberty. 
When almost fifty years old he was banished from Italy 
and came to America. Here he found liberty, and be- 
came an intensely patriotic citizen. The remaining 
thirty years of his life he devoted to making beautiful 
this Capitol. 

When his merit was disclosed fame and fortune 
sought him. Thousands of dollars were his for the 
taking. He refused all allurements in these words : 
"I have no longer any desire for fame or fortune. My 
one ambition and my daily prayer is that I may live 
long enough to make beautiful the Capitol of the one 
country on earth in which there is liberty." 

His prayer was answered, and he did live long enough 
to make this Capitol the most wonderfully decorated 
on earth. 

Please note this fact. The fame of Michael Angelo 
rests upon his work as a fresco artist. Gainsborough 
stands in the limelight of fame for his portraits. Please 
note that Brumidi was not greater than others in any 



41 

one line ; but he was the most versatile artist in the 
world, because he was great in all lines. As a designer 
alone he is entitled to a place in history and fame. 
But we shall soon see that Brumidi was great in all 
lines, in that he was a designer, decorator, portrait 
painter, fresco artist, master of the Romanesque, Ve- 
netian, Pompeiian, Moorish, and Egyptian styles ; also 
a painter of animals, birds, flowers, fruits, medallions, 
and all forms of life, and he did scenic and marine 
work well. 

Now, as we pass the Senate Restaurant, which is also 
a double restaurant, and one of the finest in the land, 
we come to a grand corridor designed and decorated 
by Brumidi, called the ]\Ioorish Corridor. You look 
above and around you and have a reminder of old 
Grenada. Look at the little masterpieces, also on the 
walls with wonderful perspectives. 

Note the fact that modern artists want you to stand 
away five, ten, or twenty feet to view their work. Here 
you may look at Brumidi's work on the ceiling, forty 
feet away, or you may go to those little scenic works 
and look at them with a microscope, for they are perfect 
in ever}' matter of detail. 

Now let us pass down this small corridor to the 
Committee on Appropriations. On the sides of this 
short corridor are works of art w^orth viewing carefully. 
They show you Brumidi as a painter of animals. Then 
in the long corridor by the Committee Room you see 
that he w^as a painter of birds. Overhead in one panel 
you see Brumidi as a scenic artist, and in the panel 
alongside of it proof that he was also a great marine 
artist. 

Now, look through the screen doors at the ceiling of 
the Committee Room and observe that the same man 




THE GOLD ROOM. 



43 

gives us a beautiful exhibition of Egyptian art. All of 
this is of Brumidi's designing and of his skilled 
decorating. 

Only a few steps to the north and we come to 
Brumidi's Pompeiian Corridor, entirely different in 
style from the ^Moorish and Egyptian art. Look at 
those cerulean blues in those panels, and realize that 
they have been there more than fifty years, and they 
are as fresh as when they were placed there by the 
hand of the master. 

Look at that long corridor, and as you walk along 
see that Brumidi painted there garlands of flowers, 
baskets of fruit, and medallions of the heads of the 
signers of the Declaration of Independence. Please 
lightly touch these medallions with \our own hands, 
and thus realize that they are not raised work ; not 
relievos. Unless you touch them you cannot believe 
that they are flat work. 

PATENT CORRIDOR 

At the east end of this corridor, see Brumidi's great 
picture of the "Palisades of the Hudson.'' There is 
Robert Fulton, his boat, the Clermont, George De 
Witt Clinton on an easel, and the Palisades of the 
Hudson. On one occasion the writer heard Brumidi 
say, half wearily, "I hope that I may live to finish my 
Palisades." When asked what remained to be done, 
Brumidi said : ''The Palisades are not dark enough and 
the perspective is not strong enough." That is true, 
but the painting is complete enough to show that he 
was a great scenic artist. 

The Senate Postoffice is before us. Originally that 
room was occupied by the Committee on Patents, and 



45 

this is Brumidi's Patent Corridor. There you see the 
inventor of the steamboat. Over the door to your left 
is a picture of the discoverer of electricity. Opposite 
to Franklin is Fiitch, who invented a steamboat when 
Fulton invented his. But when Fulton received all of 
the credit the mind of Futch became affected, as is dis- 
closed by the artist on that face. 

Next we take the elevator and go to the Senate 
floor and visit the Public Reception Room of the 
Senate. Here is a beautifully decorated room, de- 
signed and decorated by Brumidi. On the south side 
of the wall you see Brumidi as a portrait painter. 
There are Washington and Jefferson sitting down and 
Alexander Hamilton standing up. On either side of 
the portraits you see Brumidi as a fresco artist. 
Travelers point to that little cherub m the left corner 
as one of the strongest bits of fresco work in the 
world. It stands out like carved work. 

Directly overhead we see some marvelous decora- 
tive work, and on the ceiling at the north end of the 
room you see that Brumidi was great as a Romanesque 
artist. In this room alone you see Brumidi was a 
great designer, decorator, portrait painter, and Roman- 
esque artist. 

You have already seen him as a designer of great 
corridors, a painter of the Moorish, Egyptian, and 
Pompeiian styles of art ; a painter of birds, fruits, 
flowers, medallions, scenic and marine work. But this 
is not all. 

Brumidi decorated numerous large committee rooms 
after the Venetian style, as you will see over the tran- 
som there, on the ceiling of the room of the Committee 
on the District of Columbia. Look at that ceiling. 
Look at those shields, and realize that they are not 




WASHINGTON. (VANDERLYN.) 



47 
raised work. Look at the scroll work around the 
chandelier, and realize that it is not raised work. And 
now you have seen with your own eyes that Brumidi 
is all that was claimed for him at the outset, and this 
is not all. His greatest work is yet to be seen. Like 
the wine furnished at the wedding of Cana of Galilee, 
the best is reserved for the last. 

We now go to the Senate Lobby, and there we look 
into the room of the Vice-President of the United 
States. You ladies will never forget the chandelier; 
but remember the commandment : "Thou shalt not 
covet." 

From here we pass into the Marble Room, the pri- 
vate reception room of Senators, where they receive 
their guests, and where they cannot be interrupted. 
This is called the Marble Room because, as you see, 
it is all marble; walls, columns, ceiling, door cases, 
window cases, mantlepiece; all marble is the Marble 
Room. 

Now, stand on one side of the room, and see the 
endless corridors of the Marble Room. Two splendid 
mirrors, perfectly poised, reflect and re-reflect the chan- 
deliers far beyond the ability of the eye to follow them 
and count their number. This is something in optics 
well worth seeing and remembering. 

THE PRESIDENT'S ROOM 

This is the most beautifully decorated office 
room in the world, without any question. Here you 
see Brumidi at his best. Here again he is a designer, 
a decorator, a portrait painter, and a fresco artist. 
The work in this room was completed just in time for 




LAFAYETTE. (SCHEFFER.) 



49 

the first inauguration of President Lincoln. He was 
the first President to use this room, and he was the 
first President to use that table. That is a relic of the 
martyr President, the Lincoln Table. 

The home and offices of the President are in the 
White House, and he seldom comes to the Capitol ; 
only on official business. But when he does come to 
the Capitol, he comes to the kind of a room that all 
of our people want him to have, the best on earth. 

You note how appropriate is the designing of Bru- 
midi. He gives us a grand painting of the first Presi- 
dent, and in the panels on the walls he has given us 
good likenesses of all the members of the Cabinet of 
the first President. 

On the wonderful ceiling, just above the mirror on 
the north wall, is the picture of Religion, in which Bru- 
midi said he intended to demonstrate the basis of all 
religion, the all-seeing eye of God. And he succeeded. 
The veiled lady in that picture will follow you all 
around the room, not only with her eyes, but her 
cheeks also follow you. Walk slowly about the room, 
and see with your own eyes that the all-seeing eye of 
God is there demonstrated allegorically by the marvel- 
ous Brumidi. 

SUPREME COURT ROOM 

Now we must leave the President's Room, although 
many visitors have declared that it is too beautiful to 
leave. We pass in these corridors the marble busts of 
former Vice-Presidents who have presided over the 
Senate. Opposite the main entrance to the Senate Cham- 
ber there stands an old clock with a frame, a clock which 



51 

has been keeping time for the Senate for ahiiost a full 
century, and it is still in good condition and keeping 
good time. On the shield you observe are carved 
seventeen stars. They represent the seventeen States 
of the Union at that time. Now we have almost three 
times as many States, and our population has increased 
from five millions to one hundred millions, and the 
old clock will probably be there marking time when 
another century shall have rolled away. 

Now, as we walk southward and enter a small corri- 
dor we step over a corrugated door mat. This is the 
north front of the original Capitol building. You see 
the doorway entering the Rotunda, just beyond the 
circular air shaft. Well, this is the north door and 
that is the south door of the Capitol, the corner stone 
of which was laid by George Washington, September 
i8, 1793. From this beginning, the Capitol has grown 
with the growth of our constantly growing country. 

This beautiful room on our left is the Supreme 
Court Chamber. This was originally the Senate Cham- 
ber, and was occupied by the Senate during a period 
of sixty years, from 1800 to i860. Then the new 
Senate Chamber was completed and occupied, and this 
old Senate Chamber was set apart for the uses of the 
Supreme Court. 

Right beneath the clock, in the center of the "Su- 
preme Bench," as it is usually called, the Chief Justice 
sits. There are eight Associate Justices, and four of 
them sit on each side of the Chief Justice. Those nine 
men, learned in the law, constitute the highest court of 
our Republic, the court of last resort. 

Now as we re-enter the Rotunda, where we began our 
tour of the Capitol, you will observe that we have re- 
served "the best wine until the last." Let us stand to the 




CORNSTALKS AND CORN. 



53 

left of this entrance, with our backs to the wall, be- 
cause this is a good viewpoint for the great Canopy 
above us. Away up there i8o feet from the floor, 
painted on a copper bowl 65 feet in diameter, with a 
concavity of 21 feet, you see Brumidi's "Spirit of 
Washington.'' 

There you see almost 5,000 square feet of the best 
Romanesque art work in the world. Every stroke of 
the brush on that immense surface was made with scien- 
tific accuracy, to be seen at a distance of 180 feet. So 
perfect is the work that it does not seem to be more 
than 100 feet from us. 

And now please walk across the Rotunda almost to 
the south side, and look at Brumidi's last work, the 
fresco frieze work 75 feet from the floor. That is not 
statuary, nor raised work. It is as flat as the floor on 
which we stand, and yet a majority of the people be- 
lieve it to be statuary until told the contrary. 

When Brumidi was approaching the eightieth year of 
his age the designer sketched frescoes to go all around the 
Rotunda, wisely leaving two niches vacant for historic 
events yet to occur. But as the tireless patriotic painter 
was nearing the close of his life he did not live to 
finish the work which he had outlined. He produced 
the "Landing of Columbus," "Cortez entering Mexico.'^ 
"Pizarro with the Sword Conquering Peru," "The Mid- 
night Burial of De Soto," ''Pocahontas Saving the Life 
of Captain John Smith," "The Landing of the Pilgrims," 
and "Penn's Treaty with the Indians." 

Please note particularly the picture, where you see a 
man kneeling by a chest. Over the heads of those 
figures on the left is a dark background. In the left 
of the picture you can see the faces and even the linea- 
ments of the faces of the Indians. On the right, you can 



55 
barely make out that they have faces, and the third 
Indian on the right seems to be without a face at all. 

Brumidi kept everlastingly at it until within three 
weeks of his death, and there you see his last work. 
When he was gone another came to finish his sketches, 
and the work fades off to the right in an ashen gray 
condition. This demonstrates more than anything else 
shown in the Capitol that Brumidi was matchless. 

That the name of Brumidi and the story of his won- 
derful work have not been known to the American 
people is not due to lack of appreciation, but to the 
fact that there has been no one with time and acquaint- 
ance with his work to tell the people about it. Here- 
after you and I and our friends will tell the story, 
and before long all of our school children shall know 
and take pride in the fact that we have the most 
wonderfully decorated Capitol in the world, and that 
we owe it to the patriot painter, Constantino Brumidi. 

THE SENATE CHAMBER 

When the Congress is in session the Senate and the 
House of Representatives convene at noon, and to the 
Senate we will now go. Taking the first elevator to 
the gallery floor, we first go to the north gallery and 
see the ]\Ioran paintings. Here we have the picturesque 
in American scenery. There, standing near the window 
with our backs to the light, we see the "Chasm of the 
Colorado" and the "Grand Canon of the Yellowstone." 
These are two of the best paintings of their character 
in the United States. 

Xext we take a look at the "Electoral Commission." 
In the winter of 1876-77 the Congress was unable to 
determine who had been elected President of the 



57 

United States, Samuel J. Tilden or Rutherford B. 
Hayes. The Congress created an Electoral Commis- 
sion, consisting of five members of the Senate, five 
members of the House of Representatives, and five 
Justices of the Supreme Court. That Commission ex- 
amined the law, facts, and evidence, and concluded that 
the vote of the State of Florida should be cast for 
Hayes, and he was declared elected President, and was 
inaugurated. That trial brought to the Supreme Court 
room all of the distinguished men of that time. i\Irs. 
Cornelia Adele Fassett, an artist of superior merit, con- 
cluded to preserve the scene for all time, and you see 
what a splendid success she made of it. In this paint- 
ing we have good likenesses of all the eminent men of 
that day, and they are thus preserved forever. 

On the way to the Senate Gallery w^e come to Powell's 
immense canvas, "The Battle of Lake Erie." There 
is a good likeness of Commodore Perry, a good like- 
ness of his brother, Alexander Perry, a perfect repro- 
duction of the Commodore's cutter, in which they were 
Towed across Put-in-Bay from the sinking flagship on 
the left, the Lai\.'rcncc, to the Xia-^ara, on the right. 
They reached the Niagara in safet}-, made that the flag- 
ship and then won the great victory. This painting" 
shows exactly what occurred during the battle. 

Xow we enter the Senate Gallery ; the Ladies" Gal- 
lery. Opposite to us, back of the clock, is the Press 
Gallery of the Senate. Beneath the clock, in the alcove, 
is the mahogany chair of the Vice-President of the 
United States, who presides over the Senate, as the 
Speaker presides over the House. 

The long desk is for the uses of the Secretary of the 
Senate, the Chief Clerk, and reading clerks. 



59 

The little mahogany tables are for the stenographers, 
who take down in shorthand every word that is uttered 
in debate. Within an hour after a Senator makes a 
speech his utterances are in cold type at the Govern- 
ment Printing Office, ready for publication on the fol- 
lowing morning in the Congressional Record. 

Promptly at noon the Vice-President enters the 
Chamber, accompanied by the Chaplain. They ascend 
the dais, the Vice-President stopping beside the desk, 
the Chaplain ascending to the Vice-President's place. 
The Vice-President with a small ivory gavel, strikes 
the desk once. All present immediately rise and stand 
while the Chaplain offers prayer. Upon the conclusion 
of the invocation, the Chaplain retires, the Vice-Presi- 
dent assumes his chair, and says : 

"The Senate will be in order. The Secretary wi!l 
read the journal of the last legislative day's, pro- 
ceedings." 

And the new legislative day is begun. 

BRUMIDI'S METHODS 

Many people inquire how it was possible for Bru- 
midi to accomplish such an enormous amount of art 
work. The great designer and decorator prepared his 
colors according to methods known only to himself. 
They were mixed or triturated by employees under 
Brumidi's direction. Leslie and others covered the 
walls with backgrounds, under Brumidi's direction. 
Other near artists made outlines, according to direc- 
tions of the tireless worker. But all of the artistic 
work was finished by the hand of the matchless 
Brumidi himself. 




THE MARBLE ROOM. 




THE PRESIDENT S ROOM. 



For additional copies, enclose 27 cent Money Orders 

to SMITH D. FRY. 16 FOURTH STREET 
NORTHEAST .. WASHINGTON. D. C. 



OCT »? 1912 





BRUMIDIS LAST WORK. 



SSy '^ CONGRESS 

pnn 

014 369 067 2 L 




FACE OF THE GODDESS. 

Photographed on top of Capitol Dome by Leroy J. McNeely, 

of Dubuque, Iowa. 



1 



